Japan is currently suffering from a severe economic crisis. High unemployment, high inflation, and low wages plague Japan’s once sterling economy.

According to the Liberal Democratic Party, the cure is Sanae Takaichi.

Sanae Takaichi has been elected leader of the LDP, the ruling party of the Japanese Parliament, and she’s just what the doctor ordered for Japan.

As the first woman to win leadership of the ruling party, she’s very well positioned to win premiership.

Takaichi is the mother of all populists in Japan. Her nationalist policy stance has garnered an incredible boost of praise from local LDP members, and she might be able to revive the LDP from its cold spell of political uncertainty as it looks towards the next national election.

So who is Takaichi? Born to a working class family under the patronage of a mother of the police force and a father of a car company, she sprouted into political influence in 1993.

She won her first Parliamentary contest in the Nara Prefecture of Western Japan that same year, and she has now won the designated premiership of the LDP.

A student of the Thatcher age and Shinzo Abe’s mentorship, Takaichi served as the leader of the party policy group and Minister of Internal Affairs.

Takaichi takes a preservationist approach to domestic politics, thriving on social issues but also looking to address the toll of a weak economy.

In lieu of her experience as Minister of State for Economic Security from 2022 to 2024, she champions policies to secure supply chains and foster innovation, aiming to restore Japan’s economic vigor.

Takaichi is also quite tough on national security, pushing to revise Article 9 of the Japanese constitution, which would open the door to armed conflict.

After two failed attempts at pursuing the leadership of the LDP, Takaichi realized a weakness in her prior leadership campaigns — she wasn’t appealing to the local chapter leaders. In order to win, she had to get their votes.

As she grew her social media influence, negotiated with local party officials and voting members, and put on the armor of the party mantra “Change” — she changed a lot as the first female leader of the LDP in its more than seven-decade history.

Lucia Szlosarek, a global traveler and resident of Asia for 12 years, said Takaichi “carved a new era for the LDP.”

Many share Szlosarek’s sentiment as Takaichi’s populist agenda continues to grow and mirror the meteoric rise of eminent female political figures such as Margaret Thatcher.

Sanae is expected to be confirmed as Prime Minister by the Japanese Parliament with a hasty victory pending the parliamentary LDP majority, and whatever the result of her premiership, Japan will “Change” under her reign.

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